February 16th, 2025
I’m an SNL fanatic.
It has almost never been a popular thing to be or to say out loud. Even as the nerds had their revenge and became a force in popular culture, SNL has always been a target for haters, of which there are many.
But I have always been a fan. I was the kid who stayed up as late as I could every Saturday night to watch a show where I understood maybe half the jokes but felt the whole vibe. In high school, I became obsessed, and once I joined theater (I’m a recovering drama club president), SNL became a touchstone, both as a comedic influence and as an actual source of material that we recreated onstage.
I grew up (kinda) and that love never died. I always have a date with SNL. When The Lonely Island went on tour, I got my ticket and a t-shirt. When people attack the show for being “unfunny” or “not as good as it used to be,” I get weirdly defensive and immediately ask them when they last watched an entire episode (the answer is almost always “I don’t remember…”). My son has the bug, too, and his well of information on the history of the show is deeper than my own; I am very proud of this fact.
I think one of the reasons it speaks so deeply to me is because SNL isn’t one thing; it’s an entire creative community. It’s not just comedy: it’s a place with writers and artists and musicians and magicians and puppets and athletes and politicians and activists who work alongside its crew. That idea is evergreen and magical to me.
It’s kind of everything I am in on the inside but out there in real life.
I don’t think I’ll ever be a cast member at this point. But I could still host! (It’s on my bucket list. Lorne, call me?) The past few weeks have been a treasure trove for fans: I’ve watched the Peacock SNL50 Beyond Saturday documentary series, the Questlove-produced 50 Years of SNL Music documentary, the live Homecoming concert from Friday night (twice), all leading up to tonight’s 50th anniversary show, which was both silly and sublime in its scenes and scope.
I guess I wrote this because I wanted to write about something I’m passionate about and sincerely love, and that brings genuine joy and much-needed laughter to my life. I don’t see posts like this in my feed often; people love to shit on stuff on the internet, have you noticed this too?
Anyway, I hope you’re finding and nurturing your own hobbies and passions and positive spaces to take breaks and deep breaths within; it’s easy to spiral and doomscroll these days, but life is too short and we need as much light as we can generate to combat the dark. All my love… and live from New York.
The Den 